An installation of an application program is updated by use of a stored configuration of the application program corresponding to a particular user of the local application. In response to a user request, a determination is made that the stored configuration corresponds to the requesting user. The stored configuration is checked to determine if any items described in the stored configuration have been updated. If an item has been updated, then the updated item is retrieved, and the application program is built with the updated item. This stored configuration may also be encrypted and stored in a manifest file which may be decrypted to produce a decrypted configuration responsive to a user authentication. The decrypted configuration is checked to determine if any items described in the decrypted configuration have been updated. If an item has been updated, then the updated item is retrieved, and the application program is built with the updated item. Either or both of the manifest file and updated item may be stored on and downloaded from a remote data processing system.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An article of manufacture for use in a data processing system for updating an application program for execution by a particular user on a local data processing system, said data processing system comprising the local data processing system and a remote data processing system, said article of manufacture comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having remote code executed by the remote data processing system and local code executed by the local data processing system to cause operations to be performed, the operations, comprising: defining, by the remote code, a user configuration of the application program corresponding to the particular user of the application program at the remote data processing system, the user configuration describing an item from which the application program is built; determining, by the remote code, that the user configuration corresponds to the particular user; downloading, by the remote code, the user configuration to the local data processing system in response to determining that the user configuration corresponds to the particular user; determining, by at least one of the remote code and the local code, if the item described in the user configuration has been updated with an updated item; retrieving, by at least one of the remote code and the local code, the updated item if there is the updated item for the item; and building, by the local code, the application program with the updated item.
2. The article of manufacture of claim 1 , wherein the computer program embodied in said medium causes the data processing system to execute the additional operations comprising: encrypting and storing, by the remote code, the user configuration in a manifest file, wherein the user configuration is downloaded to the local data processing system in the manifest file, and wherein determining that the user configuration corresponds to the particular user comprises authenticating the particular user in response to the particular user requesting the application program; and decrypting, by the local code, the manifest file to produce a decrypted user configuration in response to the user authentication, wherein the decrypted user configuration is used to determine if the item described in the user configuration has been updated.
3. The article of manufacture of claim 1 , further comprising: encrypting and storing, by the remote code, the user configuration in a manifest file stored on the remote data processing system, wherein downloading the user configuration to the local data processing system comprises downloading the manifest file from the remote data processing system to the local data processing system; decrypting, by the local code, the downloaded manifest file to produce a downloaded user configuration in response to a user authentication, wherein the downloaded user configuration is used to determine whether any items have been updated and wherein the updated item is retrieved from the remote data processing system according to the downloaded user configuration.
4. The article of manufacture of claim 3 , further comprising: downloading, by the local code, data from the remote data processing system to the local data processing system according to the decrypted user configuration.
5. The article of manufacture of claim 4 , further comprising: authenticating, by the remote code, the particular user in response to the particular user requesting the application program, wherein the data is downloaded from the remote data processing system in response to the user authentication.
6. The article of manufacture of claim 1 , further comprising: performing an authentication, by the remote code, of the particular user in response to the particular user requesting the application program, wherein the user configuration is determined and downloaded in response to authenticating the particular user, and wherein the remote code determines if the item described in the user configuration has been updated and retrieves the updated item in response to authenticating the particular user.
7. The article of manufacture of claim 1 , further comprising: performing, by the local code, a local logon to perform an authentication of the particular user, wherein the local code determines if the item described in the user configuration has been updated and retrieves the updated item in response to authenticating the particular user.
8. A method for use in a data processing system for updating an application program for execution by a particular user on a local data processing system, said data processing system comprising the local data processing system and a remote data processing system, said method comprising: defining a user configuration of the application program corresponding to the particular user of the application program at the remote data processing system, the user configuration describing an item from which the application program is built; determining that the user configuration corresponds to the particular user; downloading the user configuration to the local data processing system in response to determining that the user configuration corresponds to the particular user; determining if the item described in the user configuration has been updated with an updated item; retrieving the updated item if there is the updated item for the item; and building the application program with the updated item.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising: encrypting and storing the user configuration in a manifest file, wherein the user configuration is downloaded to the local data processing system in the manifest file, and wherein determining that the user configuration corresponds to the particular user comprises authenticating the particular user in response to the particular user requesting the application program; decrypting the manifest file to produce a decrypted user configuration in response to the user authentication, wherein the decrypted user configuration is used to determine if the item described in the user configuration has been updated.
10. The method of claim 8 further comprising: encrypting and storing the user configuration in a manifest file stored on the remote data processing system, wherein downloading the user configuration to the local data processing system comprises downloading the manifest file from the remote data processing system to the local data processing system; decrypting the downloaded manifest file to produce a downloaded user configuration in response to a user authentication, wherein the downloaded user configuration is used to determine whether any items have been updated and wherein the updated item is retrieved from the remote data processing system according to the downloaded user configuration.
11. The method of claim 10 further comprising: downloading data from the remote data processing system to the local data processing system according to the decrypted user configuration.
12. The method of claim 11 further comprising: authenticating the particular user in response to the particular user requesting the application program, wherein the data is downloaded from the remote data processing system in response to the user authentication.
13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising: performing, by the remote data processing system, an authentication, of the particular user in response to the particular user requesting the application program, wherein the user configuration is determined and downloaded in response to authenticating the particular user, and wherein the remote data processing system determines if the item described in the user configuration has been updated and retrieves the updated item in response to authenticating the particular user.
14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising: performing, by the local data processing system, a local logon to perform an authentication of the particular user, wherein the local data processing system determines if the item described in the user configuration has been updated and retrieves the updated item in response to authenticating the particular user.
15. A computer system for updating an application program for execution by a particular user, said computer system comprising: (a) a remote data processing system including: (b) a local data processing system used by the particular user in communication with the remote data processing system; (c) remote code executed by the remote data processing system to cause operations to be performed, the operations comprising: (i) storing a user configuration of the application program corresponding to the particular user of the application program, wherein the user configuration describes an item from which the application program is built; (ii) determining whether the user configuration corresponds to the particular user; (d) local code executed by the local data processing system to cause operations to be performed, the operations comprising building the application program; (e) wherein at least one of the local code or remote code causes operations to be performed comprising: (i) determining whether the item described in the user configuration has been updated with an updated item; (ii) retrieving the updated item if there is the updated item for the item, wherein the application program is built with the updated item.
16. The computer system of claim 15 further comprising: an encryptor, at the remote data processing system, for encrypting and storing the user configuration in a manifest file, wherein the user configuration is downloaded to the local data processing system in the manifest file, and wherein a determination that the user configuration corresponds to the particular user comprises an authentication of the particular user in response to the particular user requesting the application program; and a decryptor, at the local data processing system, for decrypting the manifest file to produce a decrypted user configuration in response to the user authentication, wherein the decrypted user configuration is used to determine if the item described in the user configuration has been updated.
17. The computer system of claim 15 further comprising: a manifest file stored on the remote data processing system comprising an encrypted and stored user configuration; a downloaded manifest file comprising the manifest file downloaded from the remote data processing system to the local data processing system; a downloaded user configuration, at the local data processing system, produced from decrypting the downloaded manifest file in response to a user authentication, wherein the downloaded user configuration is used to determine whether any items have been updated and wherein the updated item is retrieved according to the downloaded user configuration.
18. The computer system of claim 17 , wherein the local code further causes operations comprising: downloading data downloaded from the remote data processing system to the local data processing system according to the decrypted user configuration.
19. The computer system of claim 18 , wherein the remote code further causes operations comprising: an authentication of the particular user in response to the particular user requesting the application program, wherein the data is downloaded from the remote data processing system in response to the user authentication.
20. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the remote code further causes operations comprising: performing an authentication, of the particular user in response to the particular user requesting the application program, wherein the user configuration is determined and downloaded in response to authenticating the particular user, and wherein the remote code determines if the item described in the user configuration has been updated and retrieves the updated item in response to authenticating the particular user.
21. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the local code further causes operations comprising: performing a local logon to perform an authentication of the particular user, wherein the local code determines if the item described in the user configuration has been updated and retrieves the updated item in response to authenticating the particular user.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
October 12, 2000
September 13, 2005
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